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Commentary
Eating elephants and the assault on our waning wildlife
By Don Pinnock - Daily Maverick Our relationship with the wild animals on our planet, whose numbers are rapidly declining, is deeply problematic. With the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in session in Colombia this week, it’s time to take stock. There are millions of people who will pay considerable sums just to see wildlife. There are others who are prepared to pay equal amounts to kill it. In between are governments which, though tasked with protecting it, are planning to kill it for food. To say our association with wild creatures is complicated would be an understatement. The two...
The elephant in the room: Tourism futures in Southern Africa
By Ross Harvey - ISS Africa Substantive wildlife tourism potential should be producing rapid broad-based development in all southern African countries. Of the world’s remaining African elephants, most reside in east and southern Africa. Botswana hosts the single largest population at roughly 126 637. Zimbabwe follows with an estimated 65 030. Elephants are a keystone species, engineering wild landscapes and providing a bedrock for wildlife tourism growth. For this region, sustainable tourism is vital to future economic and employment growth. In the absence of other growth...
News
Mysterious mass elephant die-off ‘probably caused by toxic water’
By Phoebe Weston - The Guardian Satellite data analysis suggests climate-induced algal blooms could be behind hundreds of deaths in Botswana that sparked flurry of theories in 2020 More than 350...
USU researcher tracks African elephant bones to solve one of their weirdest behaviors
By Utah Public Radio | By Sheri Quinn, Ryan Helcoski Elephants in South Africa repeatedly visit the carcasses of other elephants, and move the bones around. A team of researchers at Kruger...
Kenya: 2 Tanzanians Arrested for Alleged Smuggling of Tusks Valued at KSh 3.3m
By Nancy Odindo, Tuko Police officers from Mtwapa Police Station, along with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers, have arrested two Tanzanian nationals allegedly involved in the illegal ivory...
Press releases
NGO response to proposals from Namibia and Zimbabwe to Cull Elephants and other Wildlife
23 October 2024 – The undersigned organisations are deeply concerned by the announcements by some governments in southern Africa to cull large numbers of elephants and other wild animals, including in National Parks. In late August 2024, Namibia declared it would kill 723 wild animals,...
Studies
53 years of survey data confirm African elephant decline
By Colorado State University, Phys.org Habitat loss and poaching have driven...
New study confirms beehive fences are highly effective in reducing human-elephant conflict
By University of Oxford A ground-breaking, nine-year study has revealed that...
Wrinkles reveal whether elephants are left- or right-trunked, study finds
By Nicola Davis, The Guardian While humans are split between right-handers and...
Reports
The Carbon Mitigation Market: Problems in an African and South African Context
By Adam Cruise - EMS Foundation Carbon mitigation or carbon offsets is a trading mechanism that enables governments, businesses, or individuals to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or remove emissions elsewhere. When an entity invests...
About
The Journal of African Elephants was created by a group of concerned journalists, biologists and conservationists, who, after years of tracking and documenting the catastrophic decline of Africa’s elephant populations, have recognised the urgent need for a dedicated English and French news and commentary space to enhance and increase global awareness of the plight of Africa’s savanna and forest elephants. Our Commentary service, in particular, are writers that focus on the need to provide awareness of Africa’s elephants and affected surrounding human communities from a distinctly African perspective that, for the most part, is lacking in the dominance of Western media.